Lin Zexu's "selling cigarettes in Humen" is definitely a big event in Chinese history. On the one hand, the sale of cigarettes in Humen has curbed the spread of opium in China to a certain extent. On the other hand, it also gave Britain an excuse to invade China. After this incident, Britain brazenly launched the First Opium War, and the Qing government began to sign the Treaty of Nanking, which humiliated the country.
The ills of burning opium
But Lin Zexuhumen is not wrong to sell cigarettes, even if history can do it again, I believe he will still destroy opium in public. Therefore, Lin Zexu is also regarded as a "national hero". The motto "If a country lives and dies by profit, it is better to avoid it because of misfortune" has also been praised to this day.
Lin Zexu Humen sold cigarettes
It's just that some people can't figure out why Lin Zexu didn't burn out opium when he sold cigarettes in Humen, but adopted the "seawater immersion method"? It can better reflect China's determination to ban smoking. Friends who think like this only know one and don't know the other, and listen to Shi Jun slowly tell everyone.
Lin Zexu is non-smoking
Many people thought that Lin Zexu Humen was in danger of being ordered to do this for the first time. In fact, Lin Zexu began to ban smoking during his tenure as governor of Jiangsu and governor of Huguang. Sweep away the smokers and smokers in the jurisdiction. It was precisely because of Lin Zexu's achievements in smoking ban that the Daoguang Emperor would appoint him as the minister of chincha who smoked smoking. If Lin Zexu had never done anything about it, how could Daoguang rest assured that he would entrust such an important matter to him?
Humen sells cigarettes
Therefore, Lin Zexu went to Guangdong with experience and determination to ban smoking. But in the process of banning smoking in Jiangsu and Huguang, Lin Zexu also found some problems. When he smoked smoking in these areas, he used the traditional method of destroying opium, that is, the "smoky soil mixed with tung oil incineration method". This is also the most popular way for people to see cigarette sales, because it is more spectacular. But the drawbacks are also obvious, that is, the ointment of opium will seep into the ground. Some addicted people, after the end of the sale of cigarettes, dig up the ground to get soil, and they can still get two-thirds of ten.
Seawater leaching
More critically, in the process of burning with fire, once the wind blows, it will bring a huge threat to the health of nearby residents, and it is easy to poison or become addicted. Therefore, after the successful seizure of opium, how to sell tobacco has become a difficult problem that plagues Lin Zexu. But Lin Zexu finally overcame this difficulty and found the "seawater leaching method".
The specific operations are: 1, first dig two pools on the seashore, and the bottom of the pool is covered with stones to prevent the opium paste from seeping into the ground. 2, around the nail board, and then dig a ditch. 3. Pour the brine into the ditch and flow into the pool. 4. Break the opium into four petals, throw it into a saltwater pool, and soak it for half a day. 5, add lime to the pool, lime meets the water boiling, began to dissolve opium. 6. Arrange for soldiers to stir the water in the pond with a wooden rake, so that the opium will be dissolved by lime. 7. When the sea is low, the reaction pool water is brought into the ocean. 8. Wash the pool with clean water and drain it all into the sea.
What is Lin Zexu's approach this time? Very effective. At that time, some foreign merchants, missionaries, and captains did not believe that Lin Zexu had a way to completely destroy opium, so Lin Zexu invited them to stand by the pool to watch and personally explained to them. After reading the whole process and repeatedly inspecting it, these people admired the Minister of Chincha and reported in their newspapers on the contents of Humen's cigarette sales.
From April 22 to May 19, Daoguang, under the auspices of Lin Zexu, a total of 2,376,254 catties of opium were successfully destroyed. Except for a small number of them that were sent to Beijing as samples, there was nothing left. Later, the samples were also destroyed. It was precisely because of the success of Lin Zexu's ban that the Queen of England felt the pain of flesh, which launched the Opium War. But still that sentence, Lin Zexu Humen selling cigarettes, is an incomparably correct thing. Do you agree?
References: The Collapse of the Celestial Dynasty: A Re-study of the Opium War (2nd Edition), Tragic Hero Lin Zexu